Local News in Brief : Teachers Press Bid for Britton Ouster

A petition drive aimed at getting Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Leonard Britton fired has prompted an “overwhelming response” from the district’s teachers, a spokesman for their union said Wednesday.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles, in bitter negotiations with the district over a new contract and already authorized by its members to prepare for a strike, accused Britton of having a “union-busting, anti-teacher record” and published the “Taxpayers Petition to Terminate the Services of Superintendent Britton” in the latest issue of the union newspaper.

Charging Britton with “a frightening insensitivity” to teachers and contending that his presence “threatens the district,” the petition asks the board of education to fire him “effective immediately.”

Diana Munatones, spokeswoman for the district, called the move a “campaign of personal vilification” and called on UTLA President Wayne Johnson and the union to help resolve the salary issue “rather than shooting the messenger.”

It was the board, not Britton, she pointed out, that offered to raise salaries at least 20% over three years. The offer was rejected by the teachers.